CaixaBank applies artificial intelligence to augment employee training

The financial institution is launching a new version of its online training platform, with customised course recommendations and a personal chatbot assistant

• AI technology allows employees to expand their skills and improve their learning experience.
• The platform provides access to a wide range of online courses covering all disciplines, created by prestigious educational institutions specifically for CaixaBank.
• CaixaBank is moving towards its objective to accelerate digital transformation to become more efficient and agile, a key pillar of its 2019-2021 Strategic Plan.

CaixaBank has started to use artificial intelligence to improve the acquisition of new skills among its employees. The financial institution, chaired by Jordi Gual and with chief executive officer Gonzalo Gortázar, has launched a new version of Virtaula, an online training platform for its entire workforce, incorporating artificial intelligence to identify each employee's areas of interest and recommend courses tailored to their individual profiles.

Virtaula hosts information on CaixaBank Group employees and offers a wide range of online training, including courses across numerous specialities: languages, executive skills, digital skills, finance, risk management, etc. The majority of these courses have been especially designed for CaixaBank by benchmark institutions and training centres in different disciplines. The course catalogue includes options at all levels, from university postgraduate courses to short-duration intensive courses, and they are designed so that they can be taken entirely online through self-training.

The application of artificial intelligence in the Virtaula platform will give each employee access to courses that are potentially more appealing based on their individual profile. These course suggestions will also continue to be enhanced as the system will learn and improve based on user experience.

Furthermore, to make it even easier to access the right training, CaixaBank has introduced a chatbot, which will interact with the user using natural language. This equips the employee with a personal assistant that helps them to locate relevant training content, at any time, even in instances where recommendations are not immediately related to courses that have been taken previously. Employees can also explore the full catalogue of courses by theme, without using the artificial intelligence support, however, given the wide range of courses available, this may make it more time-consuming to identify the most interesting and relevant content for their profiles.

The main benefit of customising internal training through artificial intelligence is the improved access to courses that expand the professional skills of CaixaBank employees. In its 2019-2021 Strategic Plan, the financial institution set out to accelerate digital transformation, to become more efficient and nimble, and to strengthen its collaborative people-focused culture.

CaixaBank, a pioneer in innovation applied to training

The Virtaula platform is the main way for CaixaBank employees to access both regulatory information, which is compulsory for all workers in the financial sector, and self-training courses. In 2019, more than 90 per centof training was taken through Virtaula.

CaixaBank was the first financial services provider in Spain to commit to digitising its internal training platform. In fact, the Virtaula platform turns 20 years old this month: the first version appeared in 2000. Since then, this online channel has evolved, incorporating new resources and technologies, from social networks and tools that facilitate shared knowledge (blogs, forums, wikis, etc.) to gamification techniques to promote learning.